Drunk Driving and Public Policy
This session combines research that considers the social costs of drunk driving and the efficacy of public policies designed to reduce the incidence of alcohol-related motor vehicle accident fatalities. The first paper re-examines the relative risk of drunk drivers following the method developed by Levitt and Porter (2001). Across a number of model specifications, their results suggest that the relative risk of drunk to sober drivers was approximately 50% greater during 2000-2009 compared to 1983-1993. They explore the possibility that technological innovations in automobile safety that were relatively more effective with reducing fatality risk of sober drivers conditional on being in an accident. The second paper explores whether the minimum legal drinking age prevents fatal traffic accidents or simply changes the timing of accidents. It is, for example, possible that individuals drink most heavily immediately after they gain legal access and drink less as the novelty of alcohol wears off. His results suggest that increasing the MLDA from 18 to 21 led to a significant decrease in traffic mortality among 18 year-olds, but not among 19 and 20 year-olds, which is consistent with adaptation to alcohol. The third paper examines the protective role of the MLDA in Australia, where states are among the world leaders in their efforts against drunk-driving. Using an age-based regression-discontinuity design applied to restricted-use data from several sources, they find no evidence that legal access to alcohol has effects on motor vehicle accidents of any type in New South Wales, despite having large effects on drinking.